What happened
A pilot operating an air taxi flight departed from a small airport located in a rural area of Alaska. During the initial climb phase of the flight, the aircraft's left wing made contact with a tree. The collision resulted in substantial damage to the left wing structure of the airplane.
The investigation
Following the accident, the pilot provided an initial account of the incident to the company's director of operations. In this early report, the pilot stated that the cause of the damage was an in-flight collision with a bird. However, subsequent review and investigation revealed that this initial statement was inaccurate. It was determined that the object struck by the aircraft was indeed a tree, not avian wildlife.
Findings
The primary finding from the investigation was the discrepancy between the pilot's initial report and the physical evidence. The pilot's original assertion of a bird strike was corrected to reflect the actual cause of the wing damage. No other contributing factors or mechanical failures were noted in the provided source material regarding the accident sequence.